Press Release From The Family Of Pookie Hudson - Doo Wop Legend Pookie Hudson Is Dead At 72

Pookie Hudson, lead singer of the Spaniels doo wop group best-known for their 1954 million-seller "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight," died Tuesday, January 16, 2006 @ 2:10 p.m. at his home in Capitol Heights, MD. Last year, he had been treated for thymus cancer. "The cancer was in remission and then, it came back," says his manager, Wellington "Bay" Robinson. "Around Christmas time, Pookie decided that he didn't want to do the chemotherapy anymore."

"Chuck Barsdale of the Dells and I spoke today about Pookie," says legendary dee jay Bobby Bennett, who hosts "Soul Street" on XM Radio. "Pookie had such a strong influence on the groups of the doo wop era that it was amazing. He was the Smokey Robinson of the 50s and I consider that a great compliment. Pookie was just that talented and what he was able to contribute was he was one of the finest lead singers. No one sounded like him. It was amazing some of the things he was doing with his voice. Even though he didn't get the personal acclaim of some others, other singers respected him. You could see his influence in The Temptations and many others. So many singers today are copy cats, but he was unique and that's why his music has lasted."

Born Thornton James Hudson on June 11, 1934 in Des Moines, Iowa, he earned his nickname Pookie from an aunt who used to change his diapers. "She used to say, `All you do is Pookie Pookie," he once joked. Most of his wonder years were spent in Gary, Indiana where he began singing in church choirs at the age of eleven. He first sang in a high school group called the Three Bees, but later met up with two classmates, Gerald Gregory and Willis C. Jackson, who asked him to join them on a Christmas talent show. They enjoyed working together so much that they formed a group under the name Pookie Hudson & the Hudsonaires. They later changed their name after Gerald's wife made a wisecrack about their singing. They asked her what she thought of the group and Pookie recalled her saying, "That we sounded like a bunch of dogs. So, that's how we ended up becoming the Spaniels."

The Spaniels were one of the first - if not the first group to coin the term doo-wop. "We were the first to put that doo doo doo and all of those kinds of sounds in our music," Hudson once said. They formed at Roosevelt High School in Gary and hung out at Vivian Bracken's record shop. After Bracken formed Vee-Jay Records in Chicago, the Spaniels became her first signing. Hudson's romantic tenor was the perfect counterpoint to Gerald Gregory's heavy bass notes. Ernest Warren, Willis C. Jackson and Opal Courtney rounded out the harmonies. From 1953 to 1960, they cut radio hits such as "Baby, It's You," "You Painted Pictures," "Peace of Mind," "I Know" and "Everybody's Laughing."

However, their signature song was 1954's million-selling Top 5 R&B hit, "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight." Hudson wrote the song: "I was going with this girl and I used to walk home from her house and as I walked, I put `Goodnight, Sweetheart' together because her mother was always telling me, `well, it's 3:00 in the morning and it's time for you to go.'" The McGuire Sisters then rushed out a version of the song that reached #7 Pop and sold even more copies than the Spaniels' version. Sha Na Na, Ben E. King, Paul Anka and George Clinton have also recorded the tune. The song has appeared in a variety of films "American Graffiti," "Three Men and a Baby" and "Diner." Ted Danson's "Becker" sitcom even built an entire episode around the song.

"White radio stations didn't play black records then," Hudson once said. "They played white artists, and so we were limited to the black audience and black radio stations. Because of this policy, there are a lot of people who are under the impression that the McGuire Sisters were the first group to record `Goodnite, Sweetheart.'" Notorious disc jockey, Alan Freed, who was known for only playing original versions of records, didn't play the original of "Goodnight, Sweetheart" on his radio show for a different reason. According to Hudson, Freed approached him in 1954 and asked for writer's credit on the song in return for radio airplay. Hudson refused and Freed boycotted the song from his show and also barred the group from appearing on his popular all-star concert revues.

However, Hudson made little money and left the group to go solo in the sixties. "We were getting $100 a piece a week and had to pay our own transportation, our own meals and expenses," he said. "We were making no money." His solo ventures didn't work out. For a while, he slept on a park bench and became an alcoholic. He worked a number of menial jobs until the oldies but goodies circuit put him back to work from the eighties onward. After 30 years of not receiving royalties for "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight," an attorney helped Hudson begin to receive regular royalties in the 1990s.

In 1991, the Spaniels were honored by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation with its Pioneer award. They used the $20,000 grant to record their album, "40th Anniversary" which has been reissued by Collectables Records. They've been profiled on BET's "Screen Scene" and Entertainment Tonight's "Hart File." They appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Daily News and assortment of regional publications and television programs.

The group received renewed interest from booking agents when they appeared in the PBS special, "The Doo Wop Cavalcade" in 2005. Hudson's last recordings were done in October 2006 for an "Uncloudy Christmas" cd that will be released in fall 2007.

A few of yall might remember my little mini review of the big Doo Wop and Variety Show from a few weeks ago in NYC???
In case you forgot, I'll repeat what I said at that time...
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Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels were AWESOME. Today we use terminology like "blow harmony" and toss that term around like it's nothing. To actually witness one of the ORIGINAL MASTERS executing it standing less than 10 feet away from you is something that words simply can not describe. There is such beauty in the sound, in the motion and in the vibe that I am unable to describe it using the English language. All I can do is swell with pride of accomplishment that OUR people were able to create such a great artform, and to create it quite literally out of nothing more than the "air we breathe".
It was 50 years ago when brothas like Pookie Hudson created this artform and here I sit at the age of 48 in sheer wonder of the mastery of art & science required to create something like "blow harmony".

Whats even more incredible to me is that this is being done by someone that I actually know, a legendary "old man", who was literally at death's door not very many months ago. (yes his cancer is in remission).

In thinking about this accomplishment of creativity that actually pushes the envelope of nature it also causes me once again to wonder why if we can create such great art and science, why do we find ourselves in the condition we face today. I realize that the world is full of contradictions, however this is the one that causes me to both wonder how we are going to survive and also to know that we are going to survive despite our continuing self hating/destructive behavior.

I don't pretend to have the answer to that question, however it is a question that for me never seems to go away.
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Oh, you didn't click earlier when I suggested that you do so?
Well here's another chance for you to take a listen to a LIVING LEGEND
(doin it to death in 2005)

And next time we tell you to come to a concert, bring your azzes on....

--Bob Davis

Profile: James "Pookie" Hudson

One of the things that happened at the Doo Wop and Variety Show on October 21 at Queensborough Community College was a special tribute to the legendary "Pookie Hudson, lead singer of the Spaniels. Pookie i8s a longtime member of Soul-Patrol and has been a great friend of ours for many years, as you can see in the photo above of Pookie and Soul-Patrollers AdamsRib and ZieLove :)
So I thought it might be nice to profile Pookie and the Spaniels here in the Newsletter.

Thornton James "Pookie" Hudson was born on June 11, 1934 in Des Moines, Iowa. Hudson received his nickname from an aunt who babysat him. He was the only child of Ardath Robinson. His father, who he never knew, was rumored to be a gypsy. James Hudson married his mother while she was pregnant and shortly after his birth the family moved from Iowa to Gary, Indiana. Hudson attended Roosevelt School from first grade until he graduated in 1953. He developed a love for music and singing at a young age and shares the bloodline with famous performers Josephine Baker and Fats Waller. In 1948, while only in junior high school, he formed his first Doo Wop singing group, The Four Bees with fellow members Billy Shelton, Gerald Gregory and Calvin Fossett. The group eventually broke up when one of the members graduated.

The Spaniels were created in 1953 at Roosevelt High School. The teenage celebrities included Hudson as the lead singer, first tenor Ernest Warren, second tenor Willie C. Jackson, baritone Opal Courtney, Jr and bass Gerald Gregory. Upon graduation in 1953, the group became the first artists to sign with Vee Jay Records, the first large, independent African American-owned record company. The group's initial release Baby It's You reached number ten on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. In the spring of 1954 that The Spaniels reached the height of their Doo Wop success when Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight hit number twenty-four on Billboard's Top 40 and rose to number five on the R & B chart. The multi-million dollar single was just one of hundreds of songs written by Hudson. To date, the song continues to be a popular favorite among Doo Wop, classic rock and R & B music fans.

In the 1950s, The Spaniels were the top selling vocal group for Vee Jay records. When the label went bankrupt in 1966, Hudson embarked on a solo career and began recording for several other labels. In 1969, the group reunited and returned to the music of their youth. Their song Fairy Tales became a national hit in 1970. Hudson continued to perform with various Spaniels groups until he reassembled the original group.

In 1992, Hudson was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. Today he continues to perform with two Spaniels groups, one in Washington, D.C. and the original group still based in Gary. Hudson is raising money to open a Doo Wop museum in Washington, D.C. where he resides with his wife, Delores.